Bell sits 8th in playoff standings
A surprisingly strong start to the playoffs for Norman native Christopher Bell and Joe Gibbs Racing has made the first postseason elimination race far more suspenseful than expected,
A surprisingly strong start to the playoffs for Joe Gibbs Racing — two races, two wins and two drivers locked into the second round — has put Hendrick Motorsports in a precarious position headed into the first elimination race.
Alex Bowman and William Byron both start Saturday night's race at Bristol Motor Speedway below the cutline, and reigning series champion Chase Elliott isn't breathing any easier than his Hendrick teammates.
Elliott is only 19 points to the good, which means a poor finish could make for a fast ending to his attempt at repeating as Cup champion. Four drivers will be cut from the 16-driver field after the race, and only Hendrick driver and regular-season champion Kyle Larson, as well as Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr. on consecutive playoff-opening JGR wins, have secured spots in the second round.
Truex Jr. led a 1-2-3 Joe Gibbs Racing finish with Hamlin second and Norman native Christopher Bell third in last weekend's Cup race in Richmond, Va. Hamlin is first in the playoff standings with Truex in second and Bell in eighth.
But the field is at least tight — only 30 points separate Kevin Harvick in sixth from Tyler Reddick in 14th — and Bristol is the kind of track that can totally flip the standings. The .533-mile concrete bullring in northeast Tennessee can be a beast with progressive banking that goes from 24 to 28 degrees on a racing surface just 40 feet wide.
It's tight quarters, traffic can often be an impediment, and lack of patience or loss of tempers can easily alter the outcome.
Bowman is 13th in the standings, the first driver below the cutline, but technically tied with Kurt Busch for 12th. Bowman has won a career-high three races this season, which at the start of the playoffs tied him with Truex Jr. and Ryan Blaney with second most to Larson's Cup-leading five victories.